Did you know that on almost every day of the year, at least one member of the New York Yankee's all-time roster celebrates a birthday? The posts of the Pinstripe Birthday Blog celebrate those birthdays and offer personal recollections, career highlights, and trivia questions that will bring back memories and test your knowledge of the storied history of the Bronx Bombers.

August 6 – Happy Birthday Ron Davis

Watching the Yankees struggle in seasons past to build an effective bridge between their starting pitchers and Mariano Rivera made me appreciate Ron Davis even more. From 1979, when he went 14-2 in his rookie season with New York, until 1981 when he was traded to the Twins for Roy Smalley, there was no better bridge pitcher in baseball than this tall, right-handed fireballer. With no disrespect to Dave Robertson, Phil Hughes, Flash Gordon, Mike Stanton or even Mo himself (Mariano began his Yankee career as the very-effective bridge to closer John Wetteland for the 1996 World Champions) if I had to pick a guy to hold a lead in the seventh and eighth inning for the all-time Yankee team, I’d pick the Ron Davis I watched baffle Yankee opponents in those two late-innings for almost three seasons. That’s how good he was. The Twins converted him into a closer and he did fine in that role for four seasons but Ron Davis was born to take the ball from a starter with his team ahead and give it to a closer with that lead still intact.

Ron was born on this date in 1955, in Houston. He told the NY Post in 2009 that he wasn’t ready to leave the big leagues when he did at the age of 32, but doing so made it possible for him to become part of his own family’s life. He had already been divorced once by then and had five children from his two marriages. he became a stay-at-home Dad after leaving the game, who became very involved in his children’s lives. His youngest child Ike now plays first base for the New York Mets.

All rights reserved. No post or part of a post in this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photo copy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.